The drug war between hams and gowns

The new text elaborated by the Ministry (with the “passive” opposition of the Ministry of Health) has further simplified the authorization procedure for the sale of medicines on the shelves of large retailers, the simplified license allowing the sale in food grids is leading to the collapse the pharmacies that complain of an increasing quantity of products in their exercises. To exaggerate the contrast contributes greatly to the release of the authorization to the individual regardless of the number of points of sale related to it. The main chains (XFive Retail, Magnit) each have more than 5 thousand stores that, according to the new text, would be enabled in one go to the sale of medicines. The document previously prepared by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce assumed the possibility of selling drugs conditioned however to obtaining a specific authorization to carry out pharmacological activities for each point of sale. The updated version, on the other hand, authorizes the sale of non-prescription drugs without a license, specifying that this right is granted to companies whose main activity is the retail trade in food products. The proposal includes a list of 34 groups of non-prescription medicines and whose sale would therefore be permitted. The Ministry of Health has confirmed the receipt of the document by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce but has not yet made any comment to date while previously, on the occasion of the disclosure of the text “more stringent” had expressed reservations about the ability of food stores to ensure adequate storage and distribution of medicines. The initiator, the advocate and the architect of the extension of drug stores to food stores is First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov who started his own battle starting in 2004.
On May 7th, following the inauguration of Vladimir Putin’s new presidential term, the Government will present his resignation and with it all the current vice-prime ministers. Igor Ivanovich Shuvalov, first deputy prime minister, veteran (arrived in government in 2000) is not among the “undisputed” and perhaps not even so loved because of the ostentation with which he makes no secret of his economic position: “I am a rich man, and I am not ashamed. “The acceleration with which he intends to put the result of his own battle into safety arises from the danger of a possible and imminent departure from the scene.
On the other hand should be opposed by the other first deputy minister (health) Olga Yurievna Golodets, technocrat and under whose powers include the pharmaceutical activities (in addition to social development, demography, tourism and youth policies). But his star appears in decline and its reconfirmation is not at all obvious, since he appealed to Putin criticizing the “law Dima Yakovleva”, which prohibits the adoption of Russian children by American citizens and with high-tech plans for the treatment of sick children in Russia seemed to punish the travels of hope abroad for many of them.
In view of the final battle, before May 7th, the winners of the drug war can not be precisely identified while some of the vanquished are known.
The Rigla network, which has 1,900 pharmacies, has declared the risk of closure for half of them and the small regional pharmacy chains could completely abandon the market. The Federal Monopoly Service, speaking of the new version of the provision, noted that it did not provide for the introduction of the simplified procedure for the trade in medicines. The war continues.